Employee Termination Processes

Employee Termination Processes are necessary for businesses to ensure that all employees who leave the company are treated fairly and in accordance with the law. Failing to follow an official process can result in both financial and reputational damage, so it’s important to know what steps must be taken when terminating an employee’s contract of employment and why these steps are important.

The process to terminate an employee’s work contract is something all businesses should know about, as it can help you avoid future legal proceedings which could cost you time and money.

The process to terminate an employee’s work contract is often governed by the terms of the contract or employment agreement and set out in the contract of employment or staff handbook or as part of your company’s HR policies and procedures. The dismissal procedure should be carried out as part of a fair dismissal procedure at the termination of employees subject to a qualifying period of continuous service with the company, which may include consultation and notice periods.

What is Employee Termination?

The employee termination process can also be referred to as laid off, sacked, fired, let go or termination of employment to name a few.

Employee Termination is a process when an employee decides to leave their job role within your business, this can be a voluntary basis on their part, or could be decided by the employer.

The process to terminate an employee’s work contract is known as dismissal. There are two types of dismissal; unfair dismissal and fair dismissal. You must ensure you have a valid reason for terminating employment or you place yourself at risk of an unfair dismal tribunal.

What are reasons for terminating employees?

Your company may decide to let go of one or more employees for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s for performance issues, or for hiring replacements to fill open positions, terminating employees is an important decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The reasons you can terminate an employee include poor performance; lack of interest in continuing with a role; lack of skills needed to continue with a role; inappropriate behaviour.

Very rarely you can jump straight to terminating an employee’s contract. Check on the government site which will lay out the dismissal process

Breach of contract – Legal agreement between both parties where the terms of the employment contract have been broken
Gross misconduct – Gross misconduct can allow for immediate termination of an employee’s contract but thorough investigation, though and evidence to prove the offence.
Low Standards of Work – Poor performance or “capability” or inability in doing your job
Fair reasons for dismissals – Continually missing work; late for work or poor discipline
Probationary Period – Period when an employee can be dismissed with little or no notice,
Redundancy – Ensure you follow your business redundancy procedure.

Employee Termination Processes

Follow Disciplinary Procedure

Ensure you follow the disciplinary procedure set out in your disciplinary policy. Providing warnings to the employee to give them opportunities to improve conduct. Carry out disciplinary meeting

Gather Evidence

Back up your claims with hard evidence and document every meeting to demonstrate that you stuck to a fair process making sure you try everything possible to avoid the dismissal process.

Valid reason

Establish you have a valid reason for dismissal. These reasons can include capability, misconduct issues or redundancy. Establish why you feel you need to dismiss this employee and make sure you can clearly explain why and back up with evidence.

Discrimination

Confirm that discrimination isn’t a reason. It must not be to do with age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

Communicate Right to Appeal

Offer the employee a right to appeal against decisions.

Written Confirmation – Confirming the reasons for dismissal.

Documenting HR Processess

Make sure everyone follows the disciplinary procedures and policies and refers to the employee termination procedure to make sure you are within the law and every step has been followed. Checkify allows you to document processes and launch them as a checklist to make sure nothing is missed and level you open to unfair dismissal tribunal.